My Other Blogs: Eclectic Array

Saturday, December 16, 2006

Stop Wasting Time Whining About Wasting Time

(Thankfully, some of my blog entries from the original blog are still cached. How long they’ll be available, no one can say. This was posted on Nov. 16, almost a month ago today.)

Anti-UFOists complain about those of us who write, study, investigate, research and explore the UFO phenomena. They debate the validity of UFOs. They debate the character of those who study UFOs. They debate the legitimacy of UFOs as a worthy subject, and the work of UFOlogists as meaningful in any way.

There are many who think the subject is a joke and the people involved in exploring UFOs are also a joke. They tell us this on a daily basis. There are several of these anti-UFOists who, for various reasons, have arrived at the conclusion that it’s all a big waste of time.

Blogging away about how anyone who studies UFOs is wasting time, writing about this time waster in forums and websites, they rail against those of us invovled in UFO studies, whether it’s the researcher, the well known UFO author/pundit, or the individual UFO witness, like myself. Isn’t it a waste of time to waste a lot of time telling the rest of us we’re wasting time? Really, dahlings, what do they care how the rest of us spend our time?

It is this last opinion that I find intriguing: this belief that studying UFOs is a waste of time, for I spend a lot of time thinking about the UFO phenomena and it’s not something I do frivolously. I often have a lot of fun with it, but it’s hardly trivial, and it’s not a waste of time.

I find the UFO topic fascinating for all kinds of reasons. Some argue that one will most likely never find “the answer” to the UFO question. I agree with that completely. The difference between the anti-UFOist and myself is this: I don’t mind at all that there will probably never be A Final UFO Answer, and it’s very unlikely we will find that answer. I’ve been saying this for a long time.

But unlike those anti-UFOists who see UFO research as a big waste of time, I see it as, at the very least, a highly interesting journey. It’s the process of my journey that I find as interesting as any clues I find along the way. As you go along you find dozens of other fascinating threads to the phenomena that take you in many directions. This is a good thing. Studying the UFO and related phenomena can be compared to a giant glittering quilt with thousands of sparkling threads and shimmering shapes. One leads to another and sometimes you can detect a pattern, other times there doesn’t seem to be any pattern at all, just a cacophony of color and designs jumbled among a lot of pieces. That’s perfectly okay.

Because of my interest in UFOs, I’ve studied mythology, world religions, art history, cultures, philosophies, technology, history, and much more. I’ve had fascinating discussions with people, have met some intriguing individuals, and have had fascinating personal experiences that transcend the mundane.

I think some of this anti-UFO attitude is steeped in a literal idea about UFOs. There’s nothing going on except the cold hard machinery of the things which are either man made craft, or natural phenomena mistaken for cold hard machinery. Anything outside of that prosaic opinion smacks of the worst of everything else: New Age stuff, pop culture, mysticism, spiritualism, fanaticism -- all kinds of -isms.

To the anti-UFOist, people like us who blog, study and research UFOs and continue on our journey need to be arrogantly reminded, chided, and insulted into “getting a life.” Which involves anything, anything at all, as long as it doesn’t have to do with UFOs. (If we follow this line of thinking we arrive at the assumption that “getting a life” would include talking about UFOs, as long as you bash all things UFO, preferably several times a week. The more articulate cite sources and write well; the more pathetic insult, harass and make things up about the pro-UFO individuals.)

Well, no one’s denying that we all have our opinions. There is one fact though, and that is this: no one knows what is going on. Not the anti-UFOists, not you, not me.

It is because of this fact -- that I don’t know what’s going on or what went on in my own personal UFO encounter -- that started me on this process of discovery. When you have unusual UFO experiences it seems natural to want to know what the hell happened. Certainly no help is coming from the anti-UFO section (can any of them tell me what happened? Not so far) unless it’s incessant droning about not wasting time trying to figure it out.

When one puts themselves out there and starts publicly talking about UFOs and other weirdness, Bigfoot, psychic experiences and other strange things, you’re a fool if you’re surprised people fling insults your way. It’s too bad, and shouldn’t be, but that’s the way it is. At some point you have to wonder what is it that they’re so bothered by that they feel the need to not only be at times hideously insulting, but stoop to lying? All because someone writes about UFOs. Clearly they are insulted on a deep level by the personal journeys of others. The explorations of the UFO phenomena is taken as a personal assault.

"There's an old saying; just because you're paranoid, that doesn't mean they're not out to get you. I have my own variation: just because you're insane that doesn't mean that things aren't slipping in unnoticed through dimensional gateways..." ~ Christopher Knowles

Why the name Orange Orb?

I have had many UFO sightings and experiences, which began in childhood. One sighting in particular was dramatic enough -- it was the one that started me on this path -- and was the inspiration for the title of this blog:

In the 1980s I and my husband observed a craft, lit from within. It appeared to follow us for some time; it, in fact, appeared to be waiting for us and responded to my thoughts. It was intelligent; intelligently controlled. Whether that control came from within or without, I don't know. I don't know if the orb itself was sentient (I had a feeling it was, somehow) or the orb was just a tool used by other entities. Possibly those entities were human; that I don't know. Missing time accompanied this sighting, as did dreams that followed that were very scary -- so much so I sought out a therapist to deal with the severe anxiety caused by the dreams. The dreams:

I'm standing in a brilliant beam of white light, so blinding I can almost see through things. I can't move, no matter how hard I try, and I am trying with every single cell, every nerve, all my will, but no use. Above me is something metallic, dome or round shaped, covering much of the sky. I am furious for my husband is up there, and I demand of "them" to tell me where he is, let me see him, and, answers! I want answers! But they don't care, and keep me frozen inside this beam.

I have written about my UFO experiences at length on-line and in print, and have discussed it on various podcasts. Sites like UFO Magazine, UFO Digest, Future Theater's podcast with Bill and Nancy Birnes, and my blog Saucer Sightings, among others, contain more about the "orange orb" sighting.

Despite Imbrogno's "scandal" -- he lied about his credtionals -- his ideas are worth considering. While not new ideas at all, they are still considered fringe by many inside the fringe itself. No, I'm not condoning Imbrogno's lies, I'm s...

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